


Skin Art

by kashmir



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-19
Updated: 2006-03-19
Packaged: 2017-10-09 02:12:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/81850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kashmir/pseuds/kashmir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set pre-series. Jayne reminisces about his getting his tattoo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skin Art

**Author's Note:**

> Beta-ed by the loverly [](http://janus-74.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://janus-74.livejournal.com/)**janus_74** \- thank you, darling. This is what happens when I pass a tattoo parlor with Jayne Cobb on the brain.

Wash asked him about the tat during dinner one of his first nights aboard _Serenity_. He paused in the middle of a bite and told the story and then after it was over and done with, he realized he hadn't thought about that particular incident in a long while...

He'd been fifteen and had just gotten his first real paycheck from his first real job. Now, his mama had some sort of idea about taking him down to town and getting him to open up a savings account. Said he needed to start thinking about the future.

Jayne had just made a face behind his mama's back and told her he was going with Johnny Gates, his best friend since they were both knee high to a grasshopper, down to Thompson's store. She'd told him to mind his manners and be back by supper time.

Jayne had met Johnny by the old oak tree between the Cobb's property and the Gates' farm. Johnny and him had both been working over at the strip mine for almost three weeks now and when they'd gotten hired, they'd made a deal to go together to get inked down at the seedy tattoo parlor over at the edge of town.

They were real men now, with jobs and everything and by their way of thinking, only real men had tattoos.

Johnny had made some noise about going and taking his next pay and visiting the whorehouse next town over but Jayne wasn't too sure. Figured he was tempting fate, and his mama's wrath, enough by getting his skinned permanently marked.

They'd practically run into town and only slowed down when folks would pass them and give them the evil eye. They made their way into the tattoo place and Jayne had been in awe of all the colors and shapes lining the walls.

Johnny had said he wanted to go second since Jayne was older and all. Only seemed right, he said. Jayne had sneered at him and figured he was probably going to chicken out but he'd already made up his mind. Picked out the most colorful drawing he could find and told him he wanted it on this left arm, up high near the shoulder.

The man had grunted, told him how many credits it was - Jayne still remembered wincing at losing almost his entire pay in one fell swoop - and told him to have a seat and take off his shirt.

It'd taken nigh on two hours till it was done good and proper. Jayne had thought he was going to pass out from the pain a couple of times. Johnny sat in the corner and watched him sweat and swear and clench his teeth. But Jayne never told the man to stop, never once out and out complained at the pain.

Men didn't complain. They just kept on going, is what Jayne figured. It's what his Pa did.

So two hours later and Jayne ended up with a bloody arm with a fresh new white bandage, an almost empty pocket and the powerful urge to go outside and rid his stomach of everything he'd eaten that week. But he'd promised Johnny to wait for him, just like Johnny had done.

Except Johnny wimped out at the last minute. Decided all that pain and all that money just weren't worth it. Jayne had called him a _lou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh bun ur-tze_ and stomped angrily out of the parlor and all the way home, not waiting for Johnny.

His Ma and Pa were both waiting on the front porch for him when he made his way up the walk. His Ma took one look at his arm and the bandage and got up from her rocking chair and went inside the house, quietly closing the door behind her.

His Pa, on the other hand, had called him to out behind the shed and Jayne had hung his head, knowing he was in for a beating.

He'd taken it quietly, knowing he'd deserved it, disobeying his Ma like he had and spending all his money on something his Ma didn't approve of. The licks his father had given him had hurt plenty but nothing hurt as much, not even the pain he'd endured for two hours under the tattoo artist's needle, as when he went into the kitchen and his Ma wouldn't look or talk to him.

For two whole weeks, his Ma didn't say one word to him that wasn't an order or a request for him to do something. She'd brushed off his numerous apologies and he was nearly beside himself with trying to get back in his Ma's good graces.

Matty had about laughed himself sick at Jayne's many ill-fated attempts and Jayne had had about enough. He laid in bed one night in the room him and Matty shared and tried to decide what he would have to do to get himself back in good standing with his Ma.

He still wasn't talking to Johnny by the time their next pay day had come 'round so even if he'd agreed to, there was no way he was going over to that whorehouse now. His Ma would probably just kill him where he stood if she ever found out he'd even thought of it.

When he got off his shift that day, he marched directly into town and over to Thompson's General Store. Bought the most expensive and colorful (a bright red) skein of yarn he could find and the shiniest set of knitting needles. Plunked down a good chunk of change on the counter and made his way home, his purchases wrapped in brown paper and twine.

His Ma had been in the kitchen, making apple cobbler and he hadn't said anything. Just laid the package at her elbow and left to go do some chores he had before supper.

When he'd come downstairs the next morning for breakfast, there was a red hat laying next to his plate. His mama had come into the dining room just then and he sat down and pulled the hat on. It fit perfectly and his Ma had had tears in her eyes when she'd kissed him on the head.

"You're a good boy, Jayne Cobb. Don't you forget that, neither. Just let your head get turned so easy by a bit of coin and some flash, 's all."

He'd flushed under his mama's kiss and fussing. Just 'cause he was fifteen and a man and even if it did make his chest all warm and his cheeks ache with a smile, didn't mean he had to like it.

Years later, the same night that Wash had asked about his skin art, Jayne had taken out a piece of paper and a pen in his bunk and began to painstakingly write a letter.

"Dear Ma, I am writing to tell you I am on a new ship. Name's _Serenity_ and she's all manners of shiny...."

 

Translation:  
_liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh bun ur-tze_ stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey


End file.
